1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a decorative light-supporting structure for holding connected strings of lights.
2. Description of Related Art
Decorative light-supporting structures are often expensive and cumbersome to assemble and store. Many light-supporting structures are sold with preaffixed lights making them especially expensive. Some structures include metal parts which can be heavy, as well as dangerous in the event of an electrical short.
Artificial Christmas trees, for example, often include a trunk and numerous branches that are expensive, complex, and time consuming to assemble and store. The numerous branches must be sufficiently strong, and are angled upwards to prevent excessive sagging of the branches from the weight of the lights. Additionally, the trunks are often made of several trunk pieces. The number of the trunk pieces may be changed to vary the height of the tree. If the trunk pieces are not firmly fastened together, a user lifting the tree from a top portion of the trunk can sever the trunk. Thus, the lights burden the branches with a downward force and do not hold the tree together when lifted.
The prior art has proposed light-supporting frames which resemble a lighted tree at night, but these designs are often complex. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,094,893 to Snider discloses a light-supporting frame which draws support from a large number of guy wires. The metal guy wires present an electrical hazard, and add to the assembly time for the tree. Ends of guy wires can puncture fingers, and the wires and stakes are cumbersome to disassemble and store.